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Real Easy English

Easy level

Talking about holidays

Episode 240524 / 24 May 2024

(Image: Getty)

Introduction

Neil and Georgie have a real conversation in easy English about holidays. Learn to talk about the places you want to travel to.

Vocabulary

destination

a place we are going to or would like to go to

should

used to give advice or talk about things that are a good idea to do

could

used to talk about things that are possible

staycation

a holiday at or near home

Transcript

Georgie
Hello! Welcome to Real Easy English from BBC Learning English. I'm Georgie.

Neil
And I’m Neil. And in this podcast, we have real conversations in easy English to help you improve your English. Remember you can read what we're saying on our website: bbclearningenglish.com

Neil
How are you today, Georgie?

Georgie
I'm pretty good, Neil, thank you. I'm happy that it’s Friday.

Neil
Me too! So today we're talking about holidays and our dream destinations.

Georgie
Great, I love this topic. But can you explain what you mean by destination, Neil?

Neil
A destination is what we call a place we are going to, a place we would like to go to.

Georgie
OK. So, if we are on a train to visit London, London is our destination. But we often use it when we're talking about holidays or special journeys.

Neil
That's right. So, a dream destination is somewhere we would really like to go and travel on our holiday.

Georgie
OK, so, where is your dream holiday destination, Neil?

Neil
I like two different kinds of holidays. I like interesting cities… interesting old cities, like European cities. But I also like mountains and countryside and those kind of places like in South America.

Georgie
Yes, I also have two different types of holidays that I like. If I want to relax, I usually want to be in the sun by the beach, but I also love to see new and interesting places, places that you can't see in your own country.

Neil, where's your favourite place you've ever been to?

Neil
Oh, well, I really, really liked Japan when I visited Japan.

Georgie
OK, so if I go to Japan, what should I do there?

Neil
You should eat as much food as you can, ‘cause the food is fantastic. And you can eat in a little noodle shop or you can eat in a big, posh restaurant and it's all amazing.

Georgie
Mmm that sounds so good, and I love food!
Ok so, you said I should try some Japanese restaurants. What is this word should? What does it mean?

Neil
It means I think it's a good idea for you to do that. That's my advice to you.

Georgie
Ok so it's kind of like a recommendation in this case?

Neil
Yeah. So when you go to Japan, you should eat sushi. When you go to Japan, you should visit Kyoto to see Zen gardens.

So how about you, Georgie? What's… what's the best place you've ever been on holiday?

Georgie
I really love Edinburgh in Scotland. I love it because it's very green. The city is very close to nature and it’s very beautiful. The buildings are really beautiful.

Neil
OK, so Edinburgh, Georgie. What could I do in Edinburgh?

Georgie
Well, in August, for example, you could go to the Fringe Festival, which is a comedy and arts festival. So you could see some shows. Or you could go for a walk in the national parks outside of the city. Or you could go to see some of the museums they have. There’s lots of things you could do.

Neil
Yeah, and when we use could, we're talking about things that are possible.

Georgie
Yes, and that's different from should, because when I say you should do something, it means that it’s a good idea or I'm giving you advice. But could, I'm just giving you some options, things that are possible for you to do.

Neil
Now, we don't always go to another country on holiday or even a different city, do we?

Georgie
No, now it's actually quite popular to go on holiday inside your own country and we have a word for this, don't we Neil?

Neil
Yes, we do. It combines two words. The word stay and the word vacation. Put them together and you have staycation. And a staycation is a holiday at, actually in, your house or near your house.

Georgie
Have you ever done a staycation, Neil?

Neil
Yes, plenty of times! Often on a staycation you might do day trips, so go and visit places in the area, but come home in the evening.

Now the problem with holidays is they are expensive. We probably need to save up money if we want to travel to all these places, apart from the staycation.

Georgie
Yes, we should save up some money, exactly.

Let's recap the language we learned during the conversation.

Neil
We learned destination, which we use to talk about a place we are going to, or we would like to go to.

Georgie
Could, which we use to talk about something that is possible.

Neil
Should, which we use to talk about something that it's a good idea to do. This is advice.

Georgie
And staycation which is a fun word to talk about a holiday at or near home.

Neil
That's it for this episode of Real Easy English. Visit our website for more activities and courses to help you with your English: bbclearningenglish.com

Georgie
Next time. We'll be talking about work and jobs.

Neil
See you then, goodbye.

Georgie
Bye.

Now try this...

Learn more about could and talking about things that are possible here.

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